Brownie points

I’m kinda baked right now... I rushed this project together and had a work meeting today but now I’m sitting here and I had a bit of an epiphany.

I realized that when you do something for someone, whatever it may be you should do it with the intention of pleasing God and not the person that you’re aiding. When you do something with the hopes of pleasing that person you inherently begin to have expectations of that person. Often times, expectations of people are what allow our egos to grow and cause us to become upset. However, when you do with God in mind; you’re only intention is to grow.

I brought this up with Umar and he raised a valid point... to paraphrase, he doesn’t believe in asking for “brownie points” from God. I second this statement to the fullest, I’ve heard on multiple occasions “If you do ______ you get *motions hands as far apart as humanly possible* this much sawab(blessings)”. Hearing this as a child, I would always question people’s intentions at that point. So you’re telling me, that you’re only committing this “good” deed because you want sawab so that you may go to heaven. So basically, you don’t really care about doing good things, you only care about doing what you need to do in order to get what you want; paradise. I think that’s pretty selfish in it’s own right, but anyway; I told Umar that I agreed with him and shared a little verse from one of Outlandish’s songs..

“If I worship you in fear of hell, burn me in it.
And if I worship you in hope of paradise, exclude me from it.
But if I worship you for your own being,
Don't withhold from me your everlasting beauty”


Remember, the final analysis is between you and God, so why not just please Him by taking care of His creation without having expectations. PEACE.